As television receivers (hereinafter also referred to simply as “televisions”) are achieving a higher performance and including a larger screen in recent years, televisions are becoming more integrated and higher in functionality. There have been proposed, for example, (i) a television containing a BD/HDD and (ii) a television containing a PC. There have also been proposed a television and a cellular phone that are capable of connecting to a network such as the Internet to receive a CATV broadcast, an IP broadcast, or a one-segment broadcast. There has additionally been proposed a television that (i) includes, for example, a link function such as HDMI in its main body so that an external device can be connected to the television and that (ii) allows a user to view a video from the external device.
Such an integrated, high-functionality television allows a user to, for instance, view a plurality of images from respective sources which images are displayed simultaneously on a display screen of the display apparatus. The above television allows a viewing method that, for instance, causes two videos to be displayed by (i) causing a half of the display screen to perform a scaling display of a video from a tuner in a main body of the television with a relatively large screen and (ii) causing the other half of the display screen to perform a scaling display of an input video from an external device with a relatively small screen.
Most large-screen televisions currently commercially available are display apparatuses that have a display screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Broadcast content may, on the other hand, have an aspect ratio of 4:3. Further, a large number of distributed DVDs and the like include content having a set aspect ratio of 4:3. When such content with the aspect ratio of 4:3 is displayed on a display screen having an aspect ratio of 16:9, a user can select a preferred display mode from among various display modes.
Recent years have witnessed a proposal of a super-widescreen television having a display screen with an aspect ratio of 21:9. Such a television will allow a wider variation of display responses.
In addition, there has been widely practiced an on-screen display (hereinafter referred to as “OSD”) of information such as an electronic program guide and information on an operation in order to improve convenience and operability of, for example, a television receiver with higher functionality.
Such a viewing form allows a user to view, on a screen of a main body of the television, a display through a plurality of screens (multi-screen) which display includes (i) a broadcast video from a tuner or a network (that is, an IP broadcast or a CATV broadcast), (ii) a playback video by a recording/playback device (that is, a BD, a HDD, or a PC) contained in the main body of the television, and (iii) an output video from an externally connected device. In the case where (i) a single screen simultaneously displays, for example, information items such as an operation menu for the television, an electronic program guide (EPG), and a reservation list and/or a playback list for a BD while displaying both a television video and a BD playback video, and (ii) the screen displays the above information items in a state where they overlap the television video or the BD playback video, a main screen is problematically hidden by an additional display such as the OSD, which decreases the display quality.
In view of the above problem, Patent Literature 1 discloses a display control program that facilitates an operator's confirmation of settings during an operation for improvement of operability. Patent Literature 2 discloses an image forming apparatus that is capable of sufficiently guide an operator through an operation in correspondence with the progress of the operation or content being displayed by a display apparatus.